WINNER OF THE 2011 IVAN HUTCHINSON AWARD FOR WRITING ON AUSTRALIAN FILM FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION Australians love a battler. Oft touted as the national type, the battler’s spirit has been invoked in the guise of Howard’s “ordinary Australians” or Gillard’s “working families”. From both sides of the political fence, the battler personifies the Protestant work ethic, knowing the importance of keeping one’s nose to the grindstone in the pursuit of personal salvation. The battler is, in short, the hard-working everyman, persevering in the face of adversity, eternally on the cusp of the Australian Dream – a…